The popularity of denim fabrics among consumers of all ages has been well documented by sales in a large number of countries throughout the world.
Denim is most often cotton cloth. A conventional dyestuff for denim is the dye indigo having a characteristic blue colour, the indigo-dyed denim cloth having the desirable characteristic of alteration of dyed threads with white threads which upon normal wear and tear gives denim a white on blue appearance.
A popular look for denim is the stone-washed or worn look. Stonewashing of denim jeans and other garment has been known for years (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists: Garment Wet Processing Technical Manual, North Carolina, U.S.A (1994)), originally using laundering with abrasive stones to accelerate the aging process before selling the product in retail stores, later by introducing chlorine bleach into these wash techniques, and in the past years by using cellulolytic enzymes either alone or in combination with abrasive stones (WO 90/02790).
However, many cellulases have an activity towards insoluble cellulose which may result in a reduced strength of the cellulosic fabric in question. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to create an enzymatic process for manufacturing a fabric or a garment with a "stone-washed" look, a "worn" look or any other fashion look known in the art based on providing fabric or garments with localized variation in colour density, wherein the used enzyme has no or only a very low activity towards insoluble cellulose.